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Pages tagged "Right to Read Ohio"


Featured Post

No Kings Day, June 14, 2025

June 17, 2025
Over 700 people from kids to grandmothers braved the rain for the Chagrin Falls No Kings rally in Riverside Park at 10 am this morning. Organizer Lisa Mead played MC, introducing songs, speakers, and protest chants. Sheila Freimark led off with the Star-Spangled Banner, followed later with classic protest songs such as "This Land Is Your Land" and "If I Had a Hammer."

 

Sharon Hawkes from Right to Read Ohio spoke about the challenges libraries are facing, including the Ohio budget mandate to hide all materials "related to sexual orientation or gender identity or expression" from minors. "It's unconstitutional, and they know it," she said. She encouraged everyone to stop Trump from shuttering the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and to tell Governor DeWine to veto the censorship mandate.

 

Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice William O'Neill equated the use of the National Guard in California with what happened at Kent State in 1970. "That's what happens when you put kids with guns in front of kids with passion," he said. He has been so disappointed that US Representative Dave Joyce voted to "take money from the poor, the libraries, the kids" through Medicaid and other cuts that he declared his intention to come out of retirement and run for US Representative against Joyce. He said, "We've got to stop it."

 

It was a soggy but optimistic morning!

 

You Know It Is Bad When
No Kings Day crown gathers 6-14-25
Oh Say Can You See

Featured Post

Tony Morrison Day and the Right to Read

February 21, 2025

Our Press conference on February 18 received a lot of coverage, as the story by the Associated Press reporter was picked up by US News and World Report, the Washington Post, MSN The Canadian Press, and others around the US. Everyone spoke wonderfully, and we are very thankful to Senator Catherine D. Ingram and Representative Joe Miller and their legislative assistants, as well as Lorain Public Library System for partnering with us in this project. Many people stopped by on both February 18 and 19 to see the exhibit. My elevator speech got more honed with each opportunity!

You can view the video of the press conference remarks HERE, and the AP article by Julie Carr Smyth HERE. You can also see the excellent report by Morgan Trau of News 5 Cleveland WEWS HERE. I also noticed that the coverage by ABC4 quoted John Fortney, Director of Communications for the Ohio Senate Majority Caucus, as saying that books bans are a "fiction promoted by today's left" and other Republicans saying that all the disagreement is about age appropriateness. We beg to differ. Book bans are real, attempted book bans have been frequent in Ohio (235 titles reported in 2023) and librarians have received threats to their jobs and their personal safety for offering books that so much as mention LGBTQ+ characters with no sex mentioned at all. 

I am tired, still shoveling snow, but very, very grateful for everyone's support. Thank you.

Toni Morrison Day exhibit entryway

 


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